Healthy, Happy and Green

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I had the opportunity to see Food Inc the other night and to say that I was blown away is an understatement. The trailer below says much more than I can ever say here about this important topic but suffice it to say this is a movie that everyone should see.

Few choices in our lifestyles have as much of an impact on the planet as our food choices do. What I like about this movie is that it gives you a fair amount of facts that you probably didn’t know in order to scare you a bit but educate you at the same time, and then leaves you with concrete ideas on how you can make a difference. Also, hearing folks like Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) expertly break down these hard truths into digestible pieces makes it easy to understand what is happening out there without being an expert yourself.

Have you ever considered how far your food travels to get to you and what companies must do to keep it “fresh” during that journey?

Are you aware of the amount of corn you eat (it’s in almost everything processed) and what it is doing to you and our ecosystem as a whole?

Do you know the amount of contaminants factory farms put out into our waterways?

We have been trained as a society to buy food at the supermarket, get it as cheap as possible, and not consider where it came from, who it effects, or what it is doing to us. When you think about it, the whole thing seems fairly irresponsible.

Thankfully, we all have the power to change this system. The Food inc website has some great resources to check out after you’ve seen the movie including 10 Simple Tips towards eating better which will help you start now.

Beyond just learning about the problems with industrialized food yourself, there is another reason I want you all to run out and see this movie. Since it’s a documentary, it’s in a smaller group of theaters and will not get as much exposure to the general public as it should. The more these showings sell out, the more theaters they’ll put the film in. The more theaters its in, the more people see it. Simple. So by heading out to see it, you’re not just educating yourselves, your potentially helping to bring this important message to a wider audience.

Presently you can find out where the movie is playing here, and they’ve also supplied an online listing of where they are showing the film here.

So please, if you do nothing else for the environment or your health this week, run out and see Food Inc. I’d love to hear your thoughts after you’ve seen it and a word of advice before you head in–skip the soda and popcorn, you’ll be glad you did.